Throughout Packers training camp, we’ll bring you the five things each day that caught our attention — whether it’s a play at practice, something someone said in the locker room, a nugget of news or something offbeat that took us by surprise. 

Welcome to The High Five.

GREEN BAY — The music, the jersey giveaways, the constant upbeat music blaring over the loudspeakers, and of course the post-practice fireworks — those were all great.

The actual football during the Green Bay Packers’ annual Family Night practice inside Lambeau Field on Friday evening? Not so great.

“I thought it was definitely sloppy,” head coach Matt LaFleur said in his initial assessment.

The 2-hour, 12-minute practice was the longest of the summer so far — ”Our biggest workload we’ve had yet to date,” LaFleur said — and by the end of the night, a bunch of players were pulled due to cramping.

There were some uneven moments on both sides of the ball, an uptick in penalty flags thrown by referee Shawn Hochuli’s NFL crew as compared to the number thrown by the local officials at regular practices, and several players who struggled — including cornerback Keisean Nixon in 1-on-1 drills against Matthew Golden and right tackle Anthony Belton in both 1-on-1 pass rush/pass blocking drills and during 11-on-11.

“I think it was really good for those guys to have to fight through fatigue. We’ll look at it,” LaFleur said. “It’s a lot of good stuff for our guys to look at and learn from and to teach off of.”

Here’s our look at the five things that stood out on Friday night:

1️⃣ To say that Trey Smack dispelled all concerns would be an overstatement. But the rookie kicker did have a strong night, going 6 for 7 and looking far more in sync.

While he went 8 for 13 (61.5%) in the two regular practices in which there were kicking periods, Smack was on point from his first kick (a 33-yarder) to the last (a 47-yarder after the 42-yarder he made was wiped out by a penalty).

His only miss was a 51-yarder that he hooked wide left from the right hashmark.

“I know he missed the 51-yarder, but other than that, I thought he was dead on,” LaFleur said.

While Smack never seemed panicked after his up-and-down start to camp, he acknowledged that having a good showing on Friday night was obviously a positive.

“You know, it’s good. Definitely built a little bit of confidence up tonight,” he said. “But we can always kick better.”

Earlier in the week, special teams coordinator Cam Achord said the winds at practice at Ray Nitschke Field are far trickier than those at Lambeau Field. Smack, who had kicked inside the stadium once earlier in camp, agreed.

“Honestly, [the wind] helps me out, I think, during practice because then I’ve got to judge it more,” Smack said. “If the wind’s pushing 20 miles per hour at practice, it’s going to be a lot harder to hit a kick than when you’ve got a big stadium and it’s blocking all the wind. So, at practice, it’s fun. I would say that it’s pretty fun.”

Not as fun as Family Night was. Smack was good from 33, 38, 43 and 45 yards before the 51-yard miss, then hit a 35-yarder, the 42-yarder that didn’t count and the 47-yarder that did.

Each of those kicks came at the end of an offensive possession as opposed to just kicking seven or eight times in one practice period.

“I felt like it felt like a game for sure,” Smack said. “It was a little fast, but it definitely felt like a game. So I definitely got my reps in tonight.”

Asked which kick he felt best about, Smack replied, “The kick I liked best was probably the first one. I always, I always like the first one because that kind of gets me settled a little bit. On the 51, just hit it off my toe and then got around it a little bit. Yeah, just didn’t hit it good.”

2️⃣ The talk about second-year wide receiver Matthew Golden through the first 10 days of camp had centered around his readiness to elevate his game. On Friday night, he looked like he’s doing just that.

Golden not only had one of the biggest plays of the night — a 52-yard touchdown from Jordan Love on a deep ball that left nickelback Javon Bullard twisted up — but got the better of No. 1 corner Keisean Nixon on multiple reps in 1-on-1s.

“I feel real confident just taking it day-by-day and just building chemistry with Jordan, being on the same page with him, communicating as much as I can,” Golden said. “I feel like each and every day we go out there in practice, I feel like the chemistry between us is growing for sure.”

As for getting the better of Nixon, Golden said the two have been battling each other throughout camp and both are benefitting.

“I feel like we’ve got great competition. In practice, he pushes me and I push him,” Golden said. “For us, I feel like the competition we’ve got between each other is good, and I feel like overall I’m getting better from practicing against him.”

3️⃣ The Packers starting offensive line might’ve signaled a changing of the guard(s).

The Packers spent most of the night with a starting offensive line of Jordan Morgan at left tackle, rookie Jager Burton at left guard, Sean Rhyan at center, Jacob Monk at right guard and Anthony Belton at right tackle.

Starting left guard Aaron Banks (knee) and starting right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele (knee) both had the night off, and neither has done an 11-on-11 rep so far in camp.

LaFleur liked what he saw from Burton and Monk — “Both those guys have done a really nice job and are pushing to crack the lineup,” he said — while Belton had a rough go of it for much of the night.

Belton, who started seven games at right guard last season as a rookie second-round pick, appeared rusty at times at tackle, even though he was a left tackle throughout his college career at North Carolina State.

Although Belton worked at right tackle earlier in the week, the vast majority of his reps had been at right guard before that.

“I love Belton. I love his versatility. Certainly, I think the tackle position comes a little bit more natural for him,” LaFleur said. “[But it’s] just time on task. But I think he continues to show great promise at guard, as well.”

Belton was forthright about his performance and acknowledged that he has to be more consistent.

“I’ve got to be able to perform. There’s no excuse to, I guess, [do] some of the things that happened tonight,” Belton said. “Ain’t nothing to blame it on about guard or tackle. I’ve just got to be able to do it. It’s that’s simple. So I’ve just got to be a better player.

“I just got to just be bought in, whether it’s guard or tackle. I’ve just got, to start off, know the assignment and just execute. I’ve got to do my part to really be more of a student in the game and learn from my mistakes.

“Repetitive mistakes are kind of [a sign that] you’re not getting nowhere. It’s no signs of growth for you going out there messing up on the same thing. So I’ve just got to get to a point where I just got to consistently show up mentally and physically perform.”

4️⃣ Rookie cornerback Brandon Cisse, the team’s top draft pick, continues his steady climb.

Although he left practice early with cramps, Cisse said he felt he could have continued.

“Nothing serious at all,” he said. “I could’ve gone back in. That wasn’t my decision.”

He also said that one practice — even one held inside the historic stadium — is nothing more than another step forward for him. He not only looked good in 1-on-1s but also continued to get extended work with the No. 1 defense opposite Nixon in place of an injured Carrington Valentine.

“Just one day at a time and challenging myself, just trying to continue to get better every day. I’ve still got a long way to go,” Cisse said. “You take the same approach every day. You try to come in and be a pro and prepare the right way and good things will come to you. It’s unfortunate, what happened to Carrington. I can’t wait for him to be back.”

Asked if he’s progressing how he’d like, Cisse replied, “Honestly, no. I set really high standards for myself, so I’ll never be, ‘Hey I’ve progressed to where I want to be.’ I’m nowhere near as good as I’m going to be.”

5️⃣ If training camp is all about trusting the process and getting ready for the Sept. 13 season-opener against the Minnesota Vikings in Minneapolis, then the No. 1 offense’s ups and downs shouldn’t be too worrisome.

That said, other than the big play to Golden, there weren’t many notable moments on Friday night.

“There’s some moments that you’d like to make sure we capitalize on that we haven’t, but it’s hard to really put it into words at this stage of the game,” LaFleur said. “I think as we transition, and we’re just throwing all the installs at these guys, it’s not like you’re game-planning [at] practice. There’s certain things that just don’t draw up very good versus our defense.

“That being said, guys have got to figure out how to navigate around that. There’s some good and certainly there’s a lot of stuff we’ve got to clean up.”

Said wide receiver Jayden Reed: “We ain’t even scratched the surface yet. Still a lot of work to be done.”

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